Prelude: Luminoth
by Lord Agamemnon
Summary: A prelude to MP2 centered around the Luminoth. Mostly about the discovery of Aether in an ancient Chozo empire ruled by enigmatic "Magicians" who have harnessed a power greater than any dare fathom.
1. The Beginning

PRELUDE: LUMINOTH

_Only actions done for the interest of the universe as a whole are truly beneficial in the long run. Even the survival of us as a race is utterly irrelevant. One cannot owe allegiance to a one faction, one nation, or any one body and at the same time, work for the good of the universe as a whole. It is upon this philosophy that our society is based. It is because of this that there has never been a war between sentient races for two and a half thousand years._

Exert from the_ Introductory Book of the Bible of Stewardism_

One would not have expected to find the grandest palace in all history within the caves of hell-planet Zebes, but none could deny that the Temple of Unity surpassed any competitor in its vastness and beauty. Its floors, walls, and ceiling were a chrome shade of crystal, and magnificent statues, paintings and other works lined the halls, every one crafted by the greatest artists of the modern age. It was created to symbolize, as its name would suggest, unity, between different faiths and governments. All of the races were now ruled by the single Government of Counsel and primarily practiced Stewardism as a religion—that is, the belief in a higher being, and that all races with sufficient intelligence and complexity must put those without sufficient intelligence and complexity first in their concerns, so as to preserve a balance in the universe that, when broken, would ignite the wrath of God or _the _gods and the ultimate extinction of the race causing the imbalance.

Some Stewards had argued at the beginning that they should declare themselves monotheistic, which stirred conflict for a time, but eventually the famously simplistic saying, "Leave it" won out. That was a question to leave to theologians.

The real conflict had come when it came time to decide whether to install priests of Stewardism. Ultimately, the decision was made that a member of the highest Council would be the pope of their faith. In the interest of peaceful undiscriminating unity, the line between church and state had faded, a philosophy no longer needed.

This pope, the High Counselor (it had once been "Councilor", but when the government underwent a name change to express they merely provided guidance to the Way of Unison, the title had changed as well), made his home inside the Temple. Since he was deemed holy, his physical body was stored in stasis, and he, his mind stored in the magnificent True Water, could access it as he pleased, or choose to incarnate himself inside a computer or in any form he chose. Precious few people had ever seen him in any form at all, although some would swear he had appeared as sand or fire or wind. He usually sent one of his attendants to represent him when the Council was held.

No one, _no one_, was allowed near his body—most didn't even know where it was. Merely asking where to find the True Water was forbidden. It could be found only on Zebes, in a sole location, and there was little more than a few gallons of it in existence. The source had been long sealed off. Only the High Counselor could access it.

U'Hau, delegate of the Luminoth when Council was held, had never seen such a site and took a few moments to absorb what he saw. The Luminoth were wanderers, as their original home had been contaminated long ago, in darker times, and so they lived on asteroids and visited the worlds of other beings. In ancient times, when space travel was a bold new development, when their boundaries lied at the edge of their solar system, they used the sun for navigation, and became known as "those of the light". Ultimately, they earned their name. ("Luminoth", of course, was merely a product of the Translator Module, and they used their own word for "light".)

The entrance to the meeting hall recognized his eyes and allowed him to pass, and he beheld the grand room with its golden table. Most of the members of the Council were Chozo (Chozo, too, was a product of translation, the real word being their own accented word for "Chosen"), with a few of various other races, among them the Healu, always respected as prophets of nonviolence, in the mix. Their counterparts, Ku'us, were also present. The Ku'u were often infamous for their violent actions at the formation of the councils and for that were often seen as aggressive and headlong, though among them were some of the greatest logicians known by history. It depended on the individual. The High Counselor had one of his direct servants in attendances, a Chozo like himself.

With a traditional opening, the meeting began. "The topic at hand," said the High Counselor's attendant, Juyama-Siya, "deals with the problem of the Luminoth homeworld. I do not wish to make assumptions, but I believe we are all in agreement that it would be nigh impossible to restore their former planet to habitability. Therefore, a new world must be chosen.

"The Luminoth, having a relatively small fleet, have requested the use of our ships for their purposes. As we are all aware, every ship we have is currently in use keeping the peace across the galaxy. This means that we would have to allow at least one planet, likely more, to go unwatched. We have had no disorder for over a thousand years, but this does not mean that it could not spark at a single moment and spread through a virtually defenseless galaxy. However, the Luminoth have recently been having difficulty accessing necessary resources, as the air and food they consume is unique to their species and those of their former homeworld and can be found in large quantity only on the planet Onoli, which was devastated recently by the crash of a hyperspace ship. The planet may be utterly destroyed—we must assume the worst."

"Is there no synthesis?" asked a Counselor.

"Research has been done in the field," said U'Hau, being more knowledgeable in the field than anyone else in attendance, "but so far none has been found. It should be noted that the actual air we breathe is not where we are having trouble—we can take in nitrogen, carbon dioxide and helium, though the first is preferable to the others. The concern lies with a certain form of micro-bacterium, tiny, sometimes comparable in size to an atom, with which our species adapted and ultimately became dependent upon. This micro-bacterium is believed to have in fact evolved from a larger organism that shrunk over time for reasons unknown. We feed on plants that are also dependent on the micro-bacterium to survive. Until the unforeseen destruction of Onoli, we did not consider such dependence a dangerous condition. This micro-bacterium can survive in a vacuum, allowing it to spread to different planets—there is a chance that another world will have the conditions we need."

One of the Chozo began to speak. "We can build the ships they need. There is no need for such drastic measures as leaving a planet unsupervised. What they need we can build in less than a Zebesian year."

"I believe we can find middle ground," said a Ku'u, Aujar. "We can provide them with a single ship, from a planet virtually uninhabited- maybe a few colonists, but hardly enough to stir a fight. This ship should be enough for them to explore worlds high in likelihood to house the bacterium they need. Less probable locations we can explore using ships built later on." Murmurs of agreement rose. Eventually, though, several people began asking generally the same question: "Which planet?"

Candidates were presented. Many began to suggest what we know as SR388. "Why not?" asked one. "We only have two or three colonies there, and even then they're isolated from each other. The planet has resources enough to support them anyway."

"You're forgetting," said another, "that the world harbors the Metroid organism. We have all agreed that all precautions must be taken to prevent another spread."

"There is no other option," said Siya. "Besides, the Metroids cannot simply pack up and travel elsewhere—if anything, pulling out of the world will prevent them from getting offworld. Shall we have a vote?"

"Let the Luminoth decide," said one, "it's his race that calls for all this concern." There were both nods and accusations, but ultimately they came to agree.

"Don't abandon the home of the Metroids," U'Hau said, "it would be a greater risk than any of us care to take after the last spread. In theory, they could 'simply pack up and travel elsewhere', considering the avian fire-breathers of their sister planet that travel through space without need of protection. Athenia. There's your uninhabited world. Abandon Athenia."

"There are colonies on Athenia," said a Ku'u.

"But no indigenous life, and all the colonies are uniformly Healu. Never in history since they first ventured the stars of the Healu warred of their own accord—we need not fear any uprisings."

"We are all forgetting something," said the Healu Juamasin. "We do not know for a fact that Onoli was entirely destroyed. The chances are slim, yes, but planets of its density have survived even hyperspace collisions. We need first to confirm that it has in fact been lost to history, then seek out more worlds."

"This is too urgent," said Siya. "Only if we were willing to employ two ships, one to investigate Onoli, would it be a reasonable course of action."

"Then we can employ two ships," said a Chozo siding with Juamasin. "A small ship, one that could be manned by a single pilot—perhaps even someone young, so that more experienced officers could handle the more important venture. Such seemingly unneeded ships can be spared easily."

U'Hau said, "I agree with Juamasin."

Siya said, "The Luminoth has first say and last say in this matter. We have chosen a course of action. Lest anyone have anything more to say, this meeting is closed."


	2. Conspiracy

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_There are four sentient races admitted in the Councils that have kept galactic peace for such a great long stretch of time—but there are five sentient species known to our society. The fifth, the Kauk, were not born of this galaxy but journeyed here as did the Ku'us, and have been only seen on infrequent occasion. To a few they are regarded as myth. However, there is overwhelming evidence that they are indeed there…watching and waiting. This book concerns itself with sightings, so I shall not go into these yet. It should be noted that their journey was not from the same galaxy as that of the Ku'u, but rather another in its direction, but further "upward", if there is any real up in the universe. This is what we believe of the Kauk race:_

_They are telepathic. Likely through natural evolution and research in the field of neurophysiology, they can send images to another's mind. However, they cannot _read_ minds themselves. We believe this because many who have encountered them have reported and been able to prove experiencing _

_Their moral system is entirely different from our own. When the Ku'u first came, their way of ethics seemed horrible and _mosium_—the Chozo conventional term for an . However, in time their ways mixed with ours. It is likely that the Kauk are equally alien in their society._

_They are hostile. Whether this can be credited to their moral differences, or not, we know factually that they have attacked without prompting and may plan to invade our territory. We must be alert and aware._

Introduction to _Mysteries: The Kauk_ by the Healu Gwiasail-Unokt

The _Juyama_, named for the first High Counselor whose name had been taken up by his successors, settled down on the inhabited asteroid Yufosi, with an exterior of mostly rock save for the numerous windows, but with an interior of almost complete metal. It was a scientific asteroid, although it had earned itself infamy from the rumors that it harbored Ku'u military craft. No one believed such rumors, anymore, not since the Ku'u became part of the Councils, but that didn't take from the place's mystique.

Seekteese-Unokt, Healu, was here on a unique mission: research of the Ghakhan, which for decades had defied definition. Being barely an actual cell, and designed unlike any cell known to the Luminoth, they were known for their tendency to drill into a cell, take in various polypeptides presumably necessary for their survival, and simply disappeared. Over thousands of years of living in an environment abundant in these bacteria, the Luminoth body had started to take advantage of these parasites. When the Ghakkan invaded their cells, they sucked an equal amount of material from the invaders, until evolution took its course and the species became dependent upon each other.

Considering the events of late, a panel had been commissioned to research the microscopic body and develop a synthesis. _Juyama_ was a small ship, and perfect for the job—so it was sent on its way. Unokt was not an actual member of the panel, but a ship pilot with a scientific background. He'd volunteered to assist in the matter, not that the High Counselor couldn't have found a way to manipulate him anyway.

As the ship settled down, he set the ship to autopilot and left the cockpit. "Small", you must understand, is a relative term. The _Juyama_ was a miniature by Chozo standards, but by Healu or Ku'u standards (or human's, for the reference) it was a mammoth. Certainly nothing compared the great constructs thousands of kilometers long that were sent to police the empire ("It isn't an empire! It's a state! An empire implies a general, a commander, a monarch…no one rules here, even the High Counselor doesn't dictate," he imagined a certain spokesman he had met once reminding him), but still large. It took all of eight minutes to reach the airlock, especially considering the security measures.

The others were in the airlock, all clustered together…and none of them were going through the hatch. "What's going on?" he asked out of habit.

"They're not letting us down there," answered U-Hau—who officially was in charge of the Panel. "They've sealed the hatch."

"I didn't hear anything," said Onokt, thinking that he wouldn't have come down here if he had.

"That's what's worrying me. They haven't contacted us at all. We suspect that something is going on down there: maybe the air's been sucked out and there's a vacuum on the other side of the hatch, maybe there's some freak contamination breach, I can't say."

"You're the boss; what do you want us to do?"

"I gave the others orders to wait, so that's what we're doing. They're obviously alive and well down there, or their shields would have stayed up. We don't really have much of a choice in the matter." Onokt grunted, turning his head downward to face the hatch.

In a horrible explosion of light and noise, the hatch shot up into the Healu's face, preceding a burst of flame that incinerated the entirety of the crew—except for U-Hau. In a fireproof spacesuit, a Ku'u climbed into the _Juyama_. "Everything went perfectly," said the Luminoth. "No one will ever know."

"Good. They must think it an accident—another accident. I actually wonder if all these 'accidents will attract suspicion."

"I don't think so—the other night at the Council, they looked like the bought it hook, line, and sinker."


End file.
